B&N Launches Nook Snaps, Forgets to Also Register NookSnaps.com

I'm sure you caught the news earlier this week that Nook Media launched a response to Kindle Singles, but did you also know that they missed a step?

Nook Media forgot to follow through on one of the most basic steps of launching a new service, app or company: they didn't secure the online identity. Much to my surprise, Nook Media forgot to register the obvious website domain, www.NookSnaps.com. (They also forgot to snag the non-obvious www.NookSnap.com, though that is less important.)

And that's not all Nook Media missed. They also forgot to register @NookSnaps on Twitter (or any other social network for that matter). Whoops.

But don't worry; I have Nook Media's back. As soon as I realized that the domains were unregistered I stepped up and paid the registration fees. And this morning, when I realized that @NookSnaps was unused, I snagged that as well.

After all, what's a friendly blogger for, if not to point out a company's mistakes for all to see?

And yes, this was a mistake; the most obvious location for Nook Snaps on the web now leads to some guy's ereader blog, rather than to the Nook Store. That is not an ideal situation, though it could be worse (they are lucky that I couldn't get the forwarding service to point to the Kindle Singles Store).

But wait, there's more. The really fun part of this saga is that B&N registered the trademark for Nook Snaps in January 2012. They have held the trademark for all this time and yet they never thought to register the related domain.

P.S. I have already offered the domains to Nook Media; they have not yet responded. And since my only interest in the identity is the news value, there's no need to yell at me for domain squatting.

P.P.S. (Assuming B&N doesn't want the domain) If anyone has a good idea what I should do with the domain, please feel free to leave a comment. The leading options include a photoblog showing nooks, or a niche soft-core porn site.

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Nate Hoffelder is the founder and editor of The Digital Reader:"I've been into reading ebooks since forever, but I only got my first ereader in July 2007. Everything quickly spiraled out of control from there. Before I started this blog in January 2010 I covered ebooks, ebook readers, and digital publishing for about 2 years as a part of MobileRead Forums. It's a great community, and being a member is a joy. But I thought I could make something out of how I covered the news for MobileRead, so I started this blog."

Hey! I just realized, it all makes perfect sense! They know they’re going to sell Nook Media to somebody who will rebraand the whole operation so why waste time and money securing NookSnaps when in two months it’ll all be GoogleSnaps. 😀

What’s more! It explains the quick addition of the Play store, the rush to clear the decks of Nook hardware, and the recent disappearance of both the PC and Mac version of the Nook reader apps but not the web-based app.

How’s that for reading tea leaves? 😉

While everybody expects Microsoft to throw good money after bad, Google swoops in and buys the whole kit-n-kaboodle.

Why don’t you just admit that Barnes and Noble fired you already? You say this is in the “interest of news” but what you’ve actually described is extortion. You go so far as to hint that you’re being a nice guy and then threaten to redirect to porn if they don’t buy the domain and handle back from you? I’ve never seen someone with such a clear, irrational, obsessive gripe against a company. You should go to journalism school or start building tech instead of wasting your time throwing tantrums at companies that make things you enjoy because they don’t treat you like the authority you think you are. Or go outside and get some sun. You’re a troll with a blog who likes e-readers. End of story.

So you’re saying you just offered Barnes and Noble that domain for free?

It’s not “reporting on a news story” AT ALL. It’s not a news story that you bought a domain out from under a company. In general what you do is report on press releases, and by taking it to this weird level you have lost all ability to call it news. Plus, if you knew anything about reporting you would know you’re not supposed to editorialize and that’s basically all you do here.

The “clear, irrational gripe” is because you go after one specific company constantly. Who would even bother if there wasn’t a personal reason? It’s a BOOK STORE. By the way, why do you THINK a huge company would ever respond to you? You’re a blogger with an agenda and based on everything I’ve read of yours, you lack all basic human decency and professionalism.